Process of knitting plated fabric



March 11, 1930. HQUSEMANY 1,750,007

PROCESS OF KNITTING PLATED FABRIC Filed March 15, 1928 3 Sham-Sheet l March 11, 1930. H. E. HOUSEMAN PROCESS OF KNITTING-PLATED FABRIC Fiied Mar'ch 15, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 2 v mms-wrm flare/a 5 flaucemara March 1 l, 1930. H. E.-HOUSEMAN PROCESS OF KNITTING PLATED FABRIC 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 15. 1928 (AWE/I70? Haiw/q E/Kauacz rzan ATTWWV V .them together.

Patented Mar. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE HAROLD E. HOUSEMAN, OF EDGE MOOR, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR T0 STANDARD-TRUE]? BROS. MACHINE COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PROCESS OF KNITTING YLATED FABRIC Application filed March 15, 1928. Serial No. 261,734.

It is known to knit plated fabric, that is, fabric which is formed of a backingor body yarn and a facing or plating yarn, by feeding these two yarns under different tension simultaneously to the needles; the plating yarn appearing on the face of the fabric, while the body yarn is concealed. It is also known to produce striped and figured effects and designs by causing certain of the needles to engage only the body'yarn and escape engagement with the plating yarn, so that only the body yarn will be knitted by these needles to form loops, While the plating yarn will float across the fabric. It is also known to produce striped and figured effects and designs b causing the two yarns knit by certain of t e needles to be reversed in position so that the body yarn will appear onthe face of the fabric knit by these needles, while the plating yarn is concealed.

The two methods of producing these striped and figured effects in plated knitted fabric may be designated respectively as the floating thread method and the reverse plating method. Examples of the first method are found in patents issued to Harold E. Houseman June 7, 1927, Nos. 1,631,816 and 1,631,817. An example of the second method is disclosed and claimed in an application filed by VVilbur L. Houseman July 29, 1927, Ser. No. 209,383.

In the said patents issuedto H. E. Houseman, those needles (which may be called regular needles) that are not to produce the striping effect are drawn down at such point in the rotation of the needle cylinder that the needles will engage both threads and knit Those needles (which may be called special needles) that are to produce the striping effect are drawn down at such point in advance of the point at which the bend selected needles inward out of their normal knitting plane, therebyv reversing the normal positions of the threads in those needles, so that the body or backing yarn will, in the wales formed b such needles, appear on the face of the fa ric, producing a striped effect. This mechanism is hereinafter particularly described. Automatic pattern-controlled mechanism for actuating such cams in such manner as to actuate needles at will and produce any desired design is known in the art.

Both of these processes are limited to the production, in plated fabric, of two-color effects, since the use of only two threads is contemplated. The object of the present invention is to produce plated knitted fabrics having three-color effects, such as striped fabrics; .or designs or various configurations that may be produced by knitting stripes of any desired length along any wales of the fabric that may be selected, each of said stripes being formed by causing any one of the three threads to appear on the surface while the other threads are concealed thereby or one is concealed and the other caused to escape the needles and float across the fabric.

In carrying out the new process the three threads are fed simultaneously to a circle of knitting needles. A relatively strong tension on the face of the fabric. A medium tension is imposed on another thread, which may be called the middle thread, so that normally it will appear in the middle of the fabric directly under, and concealed by, the plating thread. Notension, or a relatively slight tension, is imposed on the third, or backing, thread, so that normally it will appear on the back of the fabric and be concealed by the other two threads. I

This triple thread fabric,in and of itself, exhibits substantial advantages over the twoyarn plated fabric that is well known in the art, and regardless of any difference in the color of the three threads. Thus, it is possi-' ble to knit a fabric having a facing of silk and a backing of cotton in which the silk comprises only one third, instead of one half, of the fabric.

In order to produce the desired striped effects, I select and combine with each other and with the three threads subjected to the differential tension described, the methods of operation set forth in the different patents a oresaid so as to provide a novel method adapted to secure the results sought. To practice such novel method, it is preferred to use certain mechanism hereinafter described.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagram of a series of needles, the yarn feed and the needle actuating cam; constituting part of the mechanism which it is referred to use.

igs. 2, 3 and 4 are diagrams of needles and adjacent sinkers, showing the relative positions of the three threads as they are knit into, or floated across, the fabric to bring the different threads respectively onto the face.

Fig. 5 is a diagram of a part of Fig. 1, enlarged, showing how certain needles engage all the threads and other needles two of the threads preparatory to forming the stitches.

Fig. 6 is an elevational View, mainly in section, of a part of the needle cylinder and of the means for selectively pressing back needles to produce, in the hooks thereof, the arrangement of threads shownfin Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the upper ends of two needles, one in normal position and the other bent back.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of one of the needle presser actuating jacks of Fig. 6.

F i 9, 10, 11 and 12 are diagrams showing t e stitch cam and needle actuated thereby; Fig. 9 also showing the means for moving the stitch cam into and out of operative position to actuate certain needles to cause them to escape enga ement with one of the threads as shown in ig. 4.

Fig. 13 is a face view showing a typical three-color design that may be produced in plated fabric by means of the process.

Fig. 14 is a diagram, enlarged, of a small section of a plated fabric, with the three different-threads on the face in different parts thereof.

S cifically, and in order to illustrate one of 'fierent ways of carrying out my new method, let it be assumed that, in the knitting of normal plated fabric, three differently colored threads are fed simultaneously toward a common point in the circle of needles. One

ssible arrangement of the threads is shown in Fi 5. The backing yarn b may be assume to be under a relatively light or no tension. The plating or facing yarn p may be under strong tension. The middle yarn m may be under a medium tension. The needles t, t follow the regular path, so that their hooks engage all the threads. In accordance with the principles governm the operation of plating, the three threa I are.

. fabric.

In order to make the backing thread appear on the face of the fabric the hook ends of the needles are pushed back, as shown in Fig. 3 (see also Fig. 7), causing the threads to roll around and reverse the relative order in which they are fed to the needles, so that the threads knitinto the fabric in the order I), m, p, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the backing thread appears on the face of the fabric and the plating yarn on the back of the fabno.

In order to make the middle thread appear on the face of the fabric, the needles are caused to move down prematurely (see the needle u in Fig. 5), so that they engage threads p and m, but escape engagement with thread I). This manipulation, alone, would cause the plating thread 112 to appear on the face of the fabric, since this thread is under greater tension than thread m. However, by bending back the hook ends of theneedles (in addition to prematurely depressing them) these threads are caused to roll around and reverse the relative order in which-they are fed to the needles, so that the threads knit into the fabric in the order m, p, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the middle thread appears on the face, and the plating thread on the back, of the fabric, while the backing thread floats across the fabric.

It will be understood that in order to make the body of the stocking in one color with stripes of two contrasting colors, it is only necessary (in carrying out the process on a circular knitting machine in the illustrative way described) to operate certain (regular) needles in the normal Way, to set back out of the normal knitting plane other needles but operate them also in the regular way, and to operate a third set of needles to cause them to move down into knitting position prematurely and engage only two of the threads (in the example given, the middle and plat ing threads) and also to bend the third set of needles back out of the normal knitting plane.

In order to produce figured efl'ects,'it is necessary (in carrying out the process on a circular knitting machine in the described illustrative way) to provide means for selectively bending back selected needles for a predetermined number of courses and to prematurely move down into knitting position selected needles for a predetermined number of courses.

In order to selectively bend back needles it is preferred to utilize the mechanism (lisclosed and claimed in the said Wilbur L. Houseman application, 1 Ser. No. 209,393, shown herein in Figs. 6, 7 and 8.

ISO

Vertically slidable in slots of the revolving needle cylinder at are the needles 1', which are movable up and down in a normal knitting wave by cams operating in the usual way. Fastened to the needle cylinder is the sinker dial a, which carries the sinkers or web holders i, which cooperate with the needles in the usual manner to form the stitches.

Below the sinker dial a is a slotted jack dial (1, which is attached to the sinker dial. Pressers e are placed in the needle cylinder slots after the needles have been inserted and are held in place by the two spring bands is. These pressers are so shaped that they bear against the needles at the extreme upper ends of the pressers and also at points opposite the spring bands In. The needle cylinder slots are of greater than normal depth at their upper ends, forming shoulders g. The needles are unsupported above these shoulders, which act as fulcrums when needles are pushed back by the upper ends of pressers e. The jack dial (Z has slots corresponding in number with the slots in the needle cylinder. At intervals and in groups in accordance with a pattern which is to be formed in the knitted fabric, jacks f are inserted in the dial slots. These jacks are heldlightly in Contact with their corresponding needle pressers e by a spring hand n.

A thread clamp ring it holds 'the'jacks in their proper vertical'position. The jacks are formed with slots on their rear ends so that sections may be broken out in different places leaving butts 0, which may be in any one of eight different vertical positions. If desired, there may be two or more butts on a jack. The one illustrated in Fig. 8 has butts in all eight positions, whereas the one shown in Fig. 6 has a butt in only the second highest position.-

The eight cams g for operating butts o in the eight different positions do not revolve and may be moved into or out of the path of the respective butts 0 of jacks 7, each of the eight different cams being in alignment with one of the corresponding eight butt loca-' tions on the jacks. V

When one or more of the eight cams g are moved'and held in thepath of the jacks f having butts 0 corresponding to the vertical positions of such cams, these jacks will be pushed inward and will in turn rock the corresponding pushers e, thereby springing the corresponding needles r atthe fulcrum point 9, causing their hooked ends to be bent back out of line with the adj acentiunpu'shed needles;

in the normal knitting plane. 1

In order to prematurely move d o w n into knitting position selected needles, it is preferred to use the mechanism disclosed in thev said Patents Nos. 1,631,816 a'nd1,63 1,817, a-

part of which is shown hereinin Figs. 942,

In Fig. 1 an arcuate group of 'needles t, vertically slidaole in the needle cyhnder, 1s

shown in operative relation with the three threads 6, p and m, which are fed from a yarn carrier 2 (Fig. 5) that is projected into the throatof the latch ring 8. In the same figure is shown a group of cams, which are constructed in the usual way except that the stitch cam w is specially constructed and is operable radially by being carried on a radially movable slide y (see Fig. 9). The stitch cam is widened, at its upper forward corner, to provide a part a: overhanging the inner. side of the cam. The part m, which is in effect a supplemental cam, has a cam face aligning with the regular cam face of cam w.

plemental cam w, and all the needles are .op-'

erated at the same point in the circumference of the needle cylinder, and all the needles engage all three threads 5, p and m. When, however, the stitch cam is moved in, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the supplemental cam a1 is in line of travel of the shoulders v of the special needles, and the special needles will move down at a point in thefcircumference of the needle cylinder in advanceof the point at which the regular needles aremoved down and at such point as to engage only the threads p and m and escape engagement with the thread b, thereby causing the latter thread to float back ofthe knitted-in threads m and p, as shown in Fig. 14.

In the-said Patents 1,631,816 and 1,631,817. the needles in the front half, and the needles in the rear half, of the machine are shown as difierently constructed and the stitch cam is shown as movable into several different radial positions, in order that the special siery, an infinite variety of three color figures and designs, but the use of such mechanism is unnecessary to such execution of the present process as-will' produce that. type of the new plated fabric which contains twocolor striped efiects on a background of contrasting color; nor is the use of the mechanism herein particularly described necessary to the production of the new plated fabric or to the execution of the new process.

In said Patent No. 1,631,817 a preferred, but more complicated, type of stitch cam is disclosed.

In an application filed of even date herewith, Ser.No. 261,733, I have set forth a process, adapted to produce three yarn plated striped and figured fabric, having features in common with the process herein described and have therein claimed such features broadly. The features claimed in the present process are those of independent specific novelty.

I do not. herein claim the fabric produced by the described process, as the same forms the subject matter of an application filed of even date herewith by Charles B. Gallagher, Serial No. 261,739.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated fabric which comprises feeding three threads simultaneously to the circle of needles, imposing a substantially greater tension on one thread than on the other two, imposing a substantially greater tension on one of the latter two threads than on the other, knitting on certain needles wales of fabric in which the threads are knit into the fabric in the order corresponding to the relative tension imposed thereon, and manipulating certain needles to cause the threads to knit into the fabric in a reverse order.

2. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated fabric, which comprises feeding three threads simultaneously to the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back and displacing the hook ends of certain needles to cause said threads to be knit into the fabric in a reverse order.

3. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated fabric, which comprises feeding three threads toward the circle of needles, imposing a substantially greater tension on one thread than on the other two and a substantially greater tension on one of the said other two threads than on the other of such other two threads, whereby certain 'needles knit normal plated fabric in which the threadsare arranged in a certain order, and prematurely'depressing certain needles to cause them to engage the thread that oc cupies the middle position in said normal plating and one .of the other two threads and escape engagement with the third thread.

4. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated fabric, which comprises feeding three threads toward the circle of needles, imposing a substantially greater tension on one thread than, on the other two and a substantially greater tension on one of the last two threads than on the other, whereby certain needles knit normal plated fabric, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them to engage threads that are positioned on the face and in the center in normal plating and also manipulating the last named needles to reverse the positions of these threads in the fabric which they, knit.

5. The process of producing on a knitting machine plated fabric of three different colors, which comprises feeding three different colored threads toward the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back to form normal plated fabric, manipulating certain needles to effect a reversal in the positioning of the threads in the fabric,.and manipulating certain needles to cause them to escape engagement with one of the threads that appears on the face of the fabric in the first two specified operations and engage the other two threads.

6. The process of producing on a knitting machine plated fabric of three different colors, which comprises feeding three different colored threads toward the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back to form normal plated fabric, manipulating certain needles to effect a reversal in the positioning of the threads in the fabric, and

manipulating certain needles to cause them to escape engagement with the thread that appears on the back of the fabric in normal plating, engage the other two threads and reverse their normal plating positions.

7. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated knitted fabric, which comprises feeding three threads along diflerent paths simultaneously to the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back, displacing the hook ends of certain needles to cause said threads to be knit into the fabric in a different order, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them to engage two threads and escape engagement with the other thread.

8. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated knitted fabric, which comprises feeding three threads along different paths simultaneously to the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them to engage two threads and escape engagement with the other thread and also displacing the hook ends of the last named needles to cause the two threads engaged thereby to be knit into the fabric in an order the reverse of that which they would otherwise assume.

9. The process of producing on a knitting.

"machine a plated knitted fabric, which comprises feeding three threads along different paths simultaneously to the needles as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back, displacing the hook ends of certain needles to cause said threads to be knit into the fabric in a different order, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them to engage two threads and escape engagement with the other thread and also displacing the hook ends of the last named needles to cause the two threads engaged thereby to be knit into the fabric in an order the reverse of that which they would otherwise assume.

10. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated knitted fabric, which comprises feeding three threads along different paths simultaneousl "'toward the needles, imposing a substantially greater tension on the thread fed along one path than on the other two threads so asto cause it to be knit by normally positioned .needles on the face of the fabric, imposing on the thread fed along another path a greater tension than on the remaining thread" to cause the last named thread to be knit" by normally positioned needles at the back'of the fabric, displacing the hook ends ofcertain needles to cause said threads to be knit into the fabric in a reverse order, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them t p engage the two threads onwhichglesser'teiigions are imposed and escape engagement with the thread on which the greatest tension is im posed, and also displacing the hook ends of the last named needles to: cause the two threads engaged therebyzt be'j knit into-the fabric in an order the reve fthat which they would otherwise assum Y I 11. The processof producing on a knitting machine a plated knittedefhbfic which comprises feeding threethliea'ds-eimultgneously to the needles and so manipulatin the threads as to cause certain needles to kn t 'the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back to knit normal plated fabric, and manipulating certain needles to cause the threads to knit into the fabric'in a reverse order. f v

12. The process of producing on a knitting machine a plated knitted fabric which comprises feeding three threads simultaneously to the needles and so manipulating the threads as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in acert'ain order from face to back to knit normal plated fabric, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause thein to engage the thread that occupies thefi"middle osition in said normal plating and one of the other two threads and escape engagement with the third thread.

13; Theprocess of producing on a knitting machine a plated knitted fabric which comprises feeding three threads simultaneously to the needles and so manipulatin the threads as to cause certain needles to knit the threads into the fabric in a certain order from face to back to knit normal plated fabric, and prematurely depressing certain needles to cause them to engage the threads that are positioned on the face and in the center in said normal plating and also manipulating the last named needles to reversethe positions of these threads in fabric which they knit. I

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this 1st day of March, 1928.

HAROLD E. HOUSEMAN. 

